Former Intelligence Bureau (IB) special director Rajender Kumar, who was once charged by the CBI in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case, on Friday asked Union home minister Rajnath Singh for legal protection for intel-based undercover operations.
Kumar put the question immediately after Singh finished his 30th IB endowment lecture here wherein he spoke about various policing challenges before the country and how to meet them.
“Chief and number two officer in an investigation agency outsourced their probe to an officer who is a traitor and… (prestige) of IB was torn apart. Sensitive call records were made public. Don’t you think there should be a law to protect undercover operations of intelligence agencies?” said Kumar.
As the crowd comprising top police and IB officials of the country started clapping, the home minister said the topic needs discussion. “I will discuss it with you,” Singh told Kumar.
Kumar was one of the four IB officials chargesheeted by the CBI in connection with the encounter of 19-year-old Ishrat Jahan in Ahmedabad in 2004. But when the NDA came to power in 2014, Union home ministry decided not to give nod to the CBI to prosecute Kumar citing lack of enough evidence and thus stalling the trial against him.